Indian Railways Train 20 project for high speed aluminium trains: Here is what Odisha wants

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today appealed to the Union Ministry of Railways to set up its Integrated Coach Factory for aluminium-bodied train sets in the state. The ministry, in its budget, had said it plans to roll out high-speed aluminium-bodied train sets - called Train-20 - by 2020.

"The Ministry of Railways may consider setting up the Integrated Coach Factory for aluminium-bodied train sets in Odisha," Patnaik said in its letter to Union Railways Minister Piyush Goyal. The state is the largest producer of aluminium and contributes to 56 per cent of the total smelting capacity of the country, he said.

The Odisha government is "extremely keen" to provide support to the Train 20 project, the CM asserted.

The government is developing an Aluminium Park in Angul district, where molten aluminium can be directly sourced from the smelter of Nalco, Patnaik said in the letter, adding that the "production costs for the coaches would come down substantially" with the mother plant in the immediate vicinity.

"The state has also identified downstream and ancilliary units of metal sector as one of its five focus areas and we are committed to providing unmatched facilitation support to manufacturing investments in the state," he added.